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QUICK  INFORMATION  SLRIES 


AMERICAN  BAPTIST 
+TTTSSIONARY  UNION 


CHINA 


1.  The  Wonderful  Empire 

-IE  vast  empire  of  China  comprises 
more  than  4,000,000  square  miles  of 
territory.  It  would  spread  all  over  the 
United  States  and  cover  nearly  two 
thirds  of  North  America.  The  four 
divisions  of  the  empire  are  Mongolia, 
Manchuria,  Tibet  and  the  Eighteen 
Provinces,  which  latter  is  the  portion 
commonly  known  as  China. 

China  is  wonderful  in  its  physical 
conditions.  It  has  magnificent  river 
systems,  two  of  which,  the  Yangtse  and  the  Hoangho, 
compare  with  the  Mississippi,  the  Amazon  and  the  Congo 
in  extent.  It  has  lofty  mountains,  deep  and  fertile  valleys 
and  extensive  plains.  Its  climate  is  healthy,  its  soil  pro- 
ductive, its  fruits  various  and  abundant. 

More  wonderful  than  the  country  itself  is  the  vast,  unmeas- 
ured sea  of  China’s  millions  of  humanity,  which  have  surged 
through  the  empire  since  centuries  before  the  Christian  era. 
Compilers  of  statistics  strive  in  vain  to  count  these  millions, 
or  to  make  us  comprehend  their  extent.  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
China  proper  contains  more  than  five  times  as  many  people 
as  the  United  States,  and  the  population  of  the  whole  empire 
is  estimated  at  400,000,000. 

2.  The  People 

The  Chinese  are  proud  of  their  country,  their  customs  and 
their  history.  They  claim  the  oldest  authentic  history  of 


any  nation,  going  back  to  2,800  years  B.C.  They  have 
always  had  a written  language,  a literature  and  a great  ad- 
miration for  learning. 

There  is  no  caste  in  China ; human  sacrifices  have  never 
been  offered  there,  nor  vice  worshiped,  as  in  some  pagan 
nations.  The  government  is  almost  purely  paternal,  and 
nominally  all  the  land  belongs  to  the  emperor. 

In  social  life  the  position  of  women  is  degraded.  They 
are  secluded,  maimed  by  footbinding,  and  almost  slaves  in 
the  household.  A result  of  this  is  the  dreadful  practise  of 
destroying  female  children,  which  is  still  common,  though 
done  more  secretly  than  formerly. 

3.  Religions 

There  are  three  nominal  religions  in  China : Confucianism, 
Buddhism  and  Taoism. 

Confucianism  is  the  system  of  morals  taught  by  the  great 
philosopher,  Confucius.  It  has  a very  strong  hold  on  the 
Chinese  in  its  doctrine  of  the  worship  of  ancestors. 

Buddhism  was  introduced  into  China  in  our  first  century. 
From  it  come  the  deadly  apathy  and  pessimism  of  the  East, 
and  the  degrading  belief  that  the  souls  of  human  beings  may 
have  a future  existence  in  the  bodies  of  beasts. 

Taoism  is,  in  theory,  a system  of  moral  philosophy.  Prac- 
tically, it  means  spirit  worship  and  the  practise  of  a great 
variety  of  superstitious  rites. 

Buddhism  has  its  images  of  Buddha;  Confucianism  has  no 
idols;  while  the  Taoist  temples  are  filled  with  them.  These 
religions  are  not  definitely  separated,  but  all  are  often  accepted 
by  the  same  persons.  “ The  Chinese  support  the  priests  of 
all  religions,  and  worship  in  all  their  temples.” 

Thus  the  stupendous  problem  of  the  gospel  in  China  stands 
revealed  : it  must  meet  the  contemptuous  pride  of  the  learned 
class;  it  must  overcome  the  inertia,  falsehood  and  supersti- 
tion of  three  great  religious  systems;  it  must  work  in  a 
society  where  women  are  degraded,  where  child  murder  is 
not  a crime,  and  where  the  opium  curse  has  set  its  blight 
upon  the  home. 


A.  Beginnings  of  nisslon  Work 

As  long  ago  as  the  early  part  of  the  sixth  century  the 
Nestorians  came  to  China,  and  formed  churches  in  several 
cities.  In  1288  the  Roman  Catholics  came,  and  had  consider- 
able success  until  the  edict  of  expulsion  against  Christians 
in  1767.  The  pioneer  of  modern  Protestant  missions  to 
China  was  Robert  Morrison,  who  came  to  Canton  in  1807. 

5.  Baptist  Hisslons  in  China 

Beginnings  In  Siam 

There  are  many  strange  facts  in  the  history  of  our  mis- 
sions, and  one  of  them  is  that  our  mission  to  China  began 
in  Siam.  The  mission  to  the  Siamese  was  established  at 
Bangkok  in  1833 ; but  though  the  work  was  carried  on  in  the 
Siamese  language,  the  first  converts  were  three  Chinese, 
among  whom  there  promised  to  be  more  success  than  among 
the  Siamese. 

South  China  Mission 

Thus  Siam  proved  to  be  the  open  door  to  China.  Our  mis- 
sionaries went  first  to  Bangkok,  but  the  call  of  the  great 
empire  with  its  millions  that  needed  the  gospel  was  too  clear 
to  be  disregarded,  and  our  workers  began  to  go  to  China  and 
to  plan  broadly  for  the  work  of  the  gospel  there. 

The  South  China  Mission  was  begun  in  1846.  Its  cen- 
tral station  is  Swatow,  in  theprovinceof  Kwangtung.  This  is 
the  province  to  which  the  great  city  of  Hongkong  formerly 
belonged,  and  it  also  contains  the  district  of  Canton,  from 
which  come  most  of  the  Chinese  who  are  seen  in  America. 
We  have  now  six  mission  stations  in  the  South  China  Mis- 
sion, including  Bangkok. 

East  China  Mission 

Our  East  China  Mission  is  located  in  the  Chekiang  Prov- 
ince. This  work  was  begun  at  Ningpo  in  1843,  and  it  is 
therefore  our  oldest  established  mission  in  China.  There 
are  five  central  stations  in  this  mission. 

West  and  Central  China  Missions 

The  great  rivers  of  the  Orient  have  often  become  the  high- 
ways of  the  gospel.  It  was  because  of  the  mighty  Yangtse 


that  it  was  possible  to  establish  a mission  in  western  China, 
2,000  miles  up  the  river.  Work  was  begun  at  Suifu  in  1889, 
and  two  other  stations  have  since  been  established. 

The  Central  China  Mission  is  at  the  great  city  of  Hanyang, 
nearly  700  miles  up  the  Yangtse,  and  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
empire.  It  was  established  in  1893,  and  is  a connecting  link 
between  the  East  and  the  pioneer  work  in  the  far  West. 

6.  Results  of  nisslons 

We  have  been  at  work  for  China  more  than  seventy  years, 
and  the  good  that  has  been  accomplished  cannot  be  told  by 
statistics. 

It  has  been  shown  that  in  spite  of  the  three  religions  the 
heart  of  the  people  is  not  at  rest ; they  long  for  the  peace 
which  Christ  alone  can  give.  “ We  wish  you  would  stay 
here  and  teach  us,”  said  some  women  to  our  missionaries; 
“ what  you  say  is  good,  but  we  want  to  know  more  about  it.” 
Even  the  children  in  our  mission  schools  learn  to  sing 
“ Jesus  Loves  Me,”  and  they  know  what  it  means,  too.  A 
little  boy  who  was  sick  unto  death  there  said  to  the  mission- 
ary, “ No,  I am  not  afraid,  for  I know  that  Jesus  loves  me, 
and  is  taking  care  of  me.” 

Our  medical  work  is  the  ‘‘pictorial  language  of  the 
gospel.”  In  it  the  Chinese  see  the  true  doctrine  of  Jesus, 
for  nowhere  else  could  the  unfortunate  be  so  helped.  And 
above  all,  among  our  many  converts  some  have  stood  firm 
amid  persecution  even  unto  death,  and  others  have  developed 
Christian  character  worthy  of  the  apostolic  age. 

“ When  China  is  converted,  one  half  of  the  heathen  world 
will  have  been  conquered  for  Christianity.” 

Contributions  for  the  work  of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union 
may  be  sent  to  any  of  the  District  Secretaries,  or  to  the  Treasurer, 
Mr.  Chas.  W.  Perkins,  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  Mass. 

Address  the  Literature  Department,  American  Baptist  Missionary  UnioD, 
Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  Mass.,  for  the  following: — 

Extra  copies  of  this  leaflet  for  free  distribution. 

An  historical  leaflet  on  “ Missions  in  China.”  Price,  5 cents. 

A free  catalogue,  giving  a list  of  general  literature  on  China. 

A copy  of  the  Annual  Report  (postage  5 cents)  and  the  Handbook  of  the 
Missionary  Union,  both  of  which  give  the  latest  statistics,  and  are 
essential  to  the  most  intelligent  knowledge  of  our  work  and  workers. 


3 Ed.  25M  -4-04. 


